''Aladdin'' is a
Disney media franchise
A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program or ...
comprising a
film series and additional media. It began with the 1992
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
animated feature of the same name, which was based on the
tale of the same name, and was directed by
Ron Clements and
John Musker
John Edward Musker (born November 8, 1953) is an American animator, film director, screenwriter, and film producer. He often collaborates with fellow director Ron Clements and is best known for writing and directing the Walt Disney Animation Studi ...
. The success of the film led to two
direct-to-video sequels, a
television series (which had a crossover episode with ''
Hercules: The Animated Series''), a
Broadway musical, a
live-action film adaptation, various rides and themed areas in
Disney's theme parks, several
video games, and merchandise, among other related works. The franchise as a whole has
EGOT-ed, meaning it has won the four biggest awards of American show business: the
Emmy
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
,
Grammy
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...
,
Oscar and
Tony Awards.
Films
Animated films
''Aladdin'' (1992)
''Aladdin'' was released in 1992. The
31st Disney animated feature film was directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, and is based on the Arabic folktale of ''
Aladdin and the Magic Lamp
Aladdin ( ; ar, علاء الدين, ', , ATU 561, ‘Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with ''The Book of One Thousand and One Nights'' (''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of ...
'' from the ''
One Thousand and One Nights
''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...
''. The plot follows
street urchin Aladdin as he attempts to gain the affection of Princess Jasmine after acquiring a magic lamp.
''The Return of Jafar'' (1994)
''Aladdin'' was followed by Disney's first
direct-to-video sequel, ''The Return of Jafar'' in 1994. The plot mainly focused on Jafar seeking revenge on Aladdin. However, this time, with Iago on Aladdin's side, Abis Mal becomes Jafar's new henchman.
Now, Aladdin and co. must find a way to thwart Jafar, with his limitless genie power.
''Aladdin and the King of Thieves'' (1996)
In 1996, the second sequel to ''Aladdin'', ''Aladdin and the King of Thieves'' was released on video. The story concludes as Aladdin and Jasmine are about to have their wedding and Aladdin discovers that his father is still alive, but is the leader of the
Forty Thieves.
''More Than a Peacock Princess'' (2007)
In 2005, screenwriter Robert Reece, who co-wrote ''
Cinderella III: A Twist in Time'' and ''
The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning'', pitched a fourth ''Aladdin'' feature to
DisneyToon Studios execs, although it never came to fruition. In 2007, DisneyToon Studios produced ''Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams'', a
crossover film with ''
Sleeping Beauty''. The second half of the film, ''More Than a Peacock Princess'', follows Princess Jasmine, sometime after the events of ''Aladdin and the King of Thieves'' as she becomes tired and bored of her usual princess duties, and upon requesting more responsibility from her father, is assigned the role of Royal Assistant Educator.
Live-action films
''Aladdin'' (2019)
A live-action ''Aladdin'' movie was released on May 24, 2019, directed by
Guy Ritchie with
John August as the writer and
Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich as the producers and stars
Mena Massoud
Mena Mansour Massoud ( ar, مينا منصور مسعود; born September 17, 1991) is an Egyptian-born Canadian actor known for starring as the title character in the Disney fantasy film ''Aladdin'' (2019). He also starred as Jared Malik in the C ...
as
Aladdin
Aladdin ( ; ar, علاء الدين, ', , ATU 561, ‘Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with ''The Book of One Thousand and One Nights'' (''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of ...
,
Naomi Scott
Naomi Scott (born 6 May 1993) is an English actress and singer. Born in Hounslow, she rose to prominence for her performances in the television film ''Lemonade Mouth'' (2011) and the science fiction series '' Terra Nova'' (2011). In 2015, Screen ...
as
Princess Jasmine,
Marwan Kenzari as
Jafar and
Will Smith as
Genie.
Untitled ''Aladdin'' sequel (TBA)
On August 12, 2019, producer
Dan Lin announced his enthusiasm for a sequel and revealed that Disney is in the early stages of developing a follow-up. The studio also hopes to bring back
Guy Ritchie to direct and Will Smith to reprise his role as The Genie while also telling a story that's "fresh and new". On February 12, 2020, it was announced that Ritchie will be returning as director with Lin and Jonathan Eirich returning as producers. In addition, Ryan Halprin joined the film as executive producer.
Untitled ''Prince Anders'' spin-off (TBA)
On December 6, 2019,
The Hollywood Reporter reported that Disney was in the early stages of developing a spin-off of ''Aladdin'' for
Disney+ centered on Prince Anders, tentatively titled ''Prince Anders'', with Jordan Dunn and Michael Kvamme writing the script and
Billy Magnussen reprising his role.
''Genies'' (TBA)
On July 15, 2015, it was reported that a live-action prequel to ''Aladdin'' (2019) was in development under the title ''Genies''. The new film will reportedly focus on genies and their realm and reveal how Aladdin's genie ended up in the lamp. The film was being written by
Damian Shannon and Mark Swift.
Tripp Vinson
Tripp Vinson is an American film and television producer, best known for his films ''Baywatch, San Andreas, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, The Guardian, The Number 23, Red Dawn, and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.''
''The New York Times'' ...
was to serve as a producer through Vinson Films.
Television
''Aladdin'' (1994–1995; 1999)
Shortly after ''
The Return of Jafar'', an
animated series was produced. The episodes focused on Aladdin's adventures after the events of the second film.
The ''Aladdin'' characters later made
a crossover with ''
Hercules: The Animated Series'', and were featured as guests in the television series ''
House of Mouse'' and related works to those series—Jafar was the leader of the villains in ''
Mickey's House of Villains''.
''Descendants'' (2015–2019)
''Descendants'' is a live-action
Disney Channel Original film series based on the lives of the children of various Disney heroes and villains when they attend the same prep school. Jafar appears in the first film as does his son, Jay, who additionally appears its
two sequels.
Agrabah
Agrabah is a fictional
sultanate that serves as the setting for the ''Aladdin'' franchise. ''Aladdin'' was initially intended to be set in the
Iraqi city of
Baghdad, but after the
Gulf War happened, the name Agrabah was chosen as an approximate
anagram
An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...
of the name of the city of Baghdad.
Cast and characters
* A dark gray cell indicates the character did not appear in that installment.
* An indicates a performer stood in as their character's singing voice.
* A indicates an actor or actress was not credited for their respective role.
Crew
Reception
Box office performance
Home media performance
Critical and audience response
Music
Video games
Along with the film release, three different video games based on ''Aladdin'' were released. ''
Disney's Aladdin'', an
international co-production between
Virgin Games and
Walt Disney Feature Animation for the
Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Bible
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book o ...
, was released in late 1993 and later
ported to
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...
,
PC,
Game Boy and
Game Boy Color
The (commonly abbreviated as GBC) is a handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on October 21, 1998 and to international markets that November. It is the successor to the Game Boy and is part of the Game ...
.
[. Retrieved October 6, 2010.] That same year,
Capcom
is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It has created a number of List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil' ...
released a
Super NES game, also called ''
Disney's Aladdin'', which was ported to the
Game Boy Advance in 2002. In 1994,
SIMS released another game called ''
Disney's Aladdin'' for the
Game Gear and
Master System
The is an 8-bit
third-generation home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III, the third iteration of the SG-1000 series of consoles, which was released in Japan in 1985 and ...
. These video games based on the original ''Aladdin'' film earned in sales revenue.
The television series inspired another game by
Argonaut Games
Argonaut Games PLC was a British video game developer founded in 1982, most notable for the development of the Super NES video game ''Star Fox'' and its supporting Super FX hardware, as well as for developing '' Croc: Legend of the Gobbos'' and ...
, entitled ''
Aladdin: Nasira's Revenge'' and released in 2000 for the
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...
and PC. Also, in 2004
Vivendi Universal released ''Disney's Aladdin Chess Adventures'', a
chess computer game with the Aladdin license.
The ''
Kingdom Hearts
is a series of action role-playing games developed and published by Square Enix (originally by Square (video game company), Square). It is a collaboration between Square Enix and The Walt Disney Company and is under the leadership of Tetsuya ...
'' series features a playable ''Aladdin'' world known as Agrabah.
In ''
Kingdom Hearts
is a series of action role-playing games developed and published by Square Enix (originally by Square (video game company), Square). It is a collaboration between Square Enix and The Walt Disney Company and is under the leadership of Tetsuya ...
'' and ''
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories'', the plotline is loosely related to the storyline of the original film.
In ''
Kingdom Hearts II
is a 2005 action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix in collaboration with Disney Interactive Studios, Buena Vista Games for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The game is a sequel to ''Kingdom Hearts (video game), King ...
'', it is a mixture of ''Aladdin'' and ''The Return of Jafar''. Genie is also a recurring
summon in the series.
Aladdin, Jasmine, and the Genie appeared in the 2011 motion-controlled game, ''
Kinect: Disneyland Adventures'', as meet-and-greet characters. ''Aladdin'' was also referenced throughout the
''Disney Infinity'' series via power discs and in-game toys, with Aladdin and Jasmine being added to the series as playable characters in the series' second game, ''
Disney Infinity 2.0
''Disney Infinity 2.0'' (also known as ''Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes'') is an action-adventure game, action-adventure Nonlinear gameplay#Sandbox mode, sandbox toys-to-life video game developed by Avalanche Software and Heavy Iron Studios ...
''.
During a limited time Event focused on ''Aladdin'', the
world builder
World Builder is a game creation system for point-and-click adventure games. It was released in 1986 by Silicon Beach Software and had already been used for creating Enchanted Scepters in 1984. On August 7, 1995, developer William C. Appleton ...
game ''
Disney Magic Kingdoms'' included Aladdin, Jasmine, Genie, Abu, Carpet, Jafar and Iago as playable characters, along with some attractions based on the franchise, and costumes of Prince Ali and Purple Dress for Aladdin and Jasmine, respectively. The Sultan and Rajah were also included as playable characters in a later update of the game. In the game the characters are involved in new storylines that serve as a continuation of the ''Aladdin'' animated film (ignoring other material in the franchise).
''Disney's Aladdin'' by Virgin Games
''Disney's Aladdin'' was developed for the
Mega Drive by
Virgin Interactive's studio of Virgin Games USA and published by
Sega
is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
in 1993. This was due to the fact that Sega had both obtained a license for publishing video games based on Disney's motion picture and established a collaboration deal with Disney's animation studios which was a first in the video game industry, so Sega of America tasked the Virgin Games USA development team with the programming duties because of their successful previous efforts with
McDonald's ''
Global Gladiators
''Global Gladiators'' is a 1992 platform game published and developed by Virgin Games, originally programmed by David Perry for the Sega Genesis and eventually ported by other Virgin Games teams in Europe to the Master System, Game Gear, and ...
'' and
7 Up's ''
Cool Spot''. The game has been noted for its use of
traditional animation, which was produced by
Disney animators under the supervision of Virgin's animation staff, including animation producer
Andy Luckey, technical director Paul Schmiedeke and animation director Mike Dietz, using an in-house "Digicel" process to compress the data onto the cartridge. The game also featured arrangements and original compositions composed by Donald S. Griffin.
''Disney's Aladdin'' by Capcom
was developed for the Super NES and published by
Capcom
is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It has created a number of List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil' ...
separately from Virgin's version, since Capcom still held Disney licensing rights for Nintendo consoles at the time of the film's release. Although the game is still a side-scrolling platformer, it is significantly different in both presentation and gameplay. Similarly following the movie's storyline, players control Aladdin as he jumps on enemies, vaults off stumps and performs various acrobatic feats to get through levels. Throughout the level, Aladdin can collect apples to throw at enemies and golden scarabs which unlock bonus stages. Throughout each level there are various diamonds (collecting all within a level also unlocking bonus stages), with players able to unlock an extra challenge if they collect 70 red diamonds. The game was later ported to the
Game Boy Advance with extra stages, though all the songs based directly on the original movie were replaced with new music, possibly because of copyright reasons. It was also unofficially ported to the NES in 1995 by Hummer Team.
''Disney's Aladdin'' by SIMS
''Disney's Aladdin'' was developed by
SIMS and published by
Sega
is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
, and released in 1994 for the
Game Gear worldwide and for the
Master System
The is an 8-bit
third-generation home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III, the third iteration of the SG-1000 series of consoles, which was released in Japan in 1985 and ...
in Europe. Sega went on to produce this game since they already had the necessary
intellectual property licensing rights in order to publish the
Virgin Interactive game on the Mega Drive/Genesis. The game is also significantly different in gameplay compared to its Mega Drive counterpart. There are three main types of level, chase levels in which Aladdin must outrun enemies while dodging obstacles, exploration levels in which Aladdin must carefully navigate traps and solve puzzles, similar to ''
Prince of Persia
''Prince of Persia'' is a video game franchise created by Jordan Mechner. It is built around a series of action-adventure games focused on various incarnations of the eponymous Prince, set in ancient and medieval Persia.
The first two games i ...
'', and carpet levels in which Aladdin rides his flying carpet. It also, unlike its 16-bit counterparts, fairly closely follow the plot of the movie, even including cut scenes containing entire dialogue scenes from the movie.
''Aladdin the Series: Tower of Gold Adventure''
''Aladdin the Series: Tower of Gold Adventure'' is a handheld electronic game that was developed and published by
Tiger Electronics in 1994 in the United States. It is based on the
television series of the same name.
''Disney's Aladdin Activity Center''
''Disney's Aladdin Activity Center'' is part of the
Disney's Activity Center
''Disney's Activity Center'' is a series of PC and PlayStation games released by Disney Interactive with each title consisting of various activities and minigames to be completed, using aspects of their licensed property.
Development
Disney Int ...
series.
''Disney's Aladdin Print Studio''
''Disney's Aladdin Print Studio'' is part of the
Disney's Print Studio
''Disney's Print Studio'' is a series of crafts/design IBM PC compatible
IBM PC compatible computers are similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT, all from computer giant IBM, that are able to use the same software and expansion cards. S ...
series.
''Disney's Aladdin in Nasira's Revenge''
''Disney's Aladdin in Nasira's Revenge'' is the ''
Aladdin
Aladdin ( ; ar, علاء الدين, ', , ATU 561, ‘Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with ''The Book of One Thousand and One Nights'' (''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of ...
'' franchise
video game which was developed for the
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...
and PC by
Argonaut Games
Argonaut Games PLC was a British video game developer founded in 1982, most notable for the development of the Super NES video game ''Star Fox'' and its supporting Super FX hardware, as well as for developing '' Croc: Legend of the Gobbos'' and ...
and distributed by
Disney Interactive in 2001. The game is set after the events of ''
The Return of Jafar'', during the
television series, and before ''
Aladdin and the King of Thieves
''Aladdin and the King of Thieves'' is a 1996 American direct-to-video animated musical fantasy adventure film produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It is the second sequel to the 1992 film ''Aladdin'', and serves as the final chapter and ...
''. The legendary city of Agrabah is in trouble again: the evil sorceress
Nasira (
Jodi Benson) is out to avenge the death of her brother, the nefarious sorcerer
Jafar (
Jonathan Freeman). She begins her vengeful plot by taking over the palace with a spell and kidnapping Princess Jasmine (
Linda Larkin) and the Sultan; she then commands the guard's captain Razoul (
Jim Cummings
James Jonah Cummings (born November 3, 1952) is an American voice actor. Since beginning his career in the 1980s, he has appeared in almost 400 roles. Cummings has frequently worked with The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros., including as th ...
) to bring Aladdin (
Scott Weinger) to her. The treacherous Nasira believes that if she collects a set of ancient relics that are spread all over Agrabah she might be able to revive Jafar and take over the world, and so she uses her captives to force Aladdin into doing this job for her.
''Disney's Aladdin Pinball''
''Disney's Aladdin Pinball'' is video game developed for
Windows by
Disney Interactive and published by Disney Online. It was released on July 11, 2005. The game consists of three separate pinball tables that can be traversed in a single game. They include The Market Place, The Cave of Wonders, and the Royal Palace.
Critical reception
Adaptations
Musical theatre
In November 2010
Alan Menken
Alan Irwin Menken (born July 22, 1949) is an American composer, best known for his scores and songs for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. His scores and songs for ''The Little Mermaid'' (1989), ''Beauty and the Beast'' (1991), ''A ...
confirmed that a
musical theatre adaptation of the show is in the works with a book written by
Chad Beguelin. The show premiered at the
5th Avenue Theatre
The 5th Avenue Theatre is a landmark theatre located in Seattle's Skinner Building, in the U.S. state of Washington. It has hosted a variety of theatre productions and motion pictures since it opened in 1926. The building and land are owned b ...
from July 7–31, 2011.
Jonathan Freeman, who voiced Jafar in the film, played the role in the stage adaptation. Adam Jacobs and Courtney Reed played Aladdin and Jasmine. Additional actors included Seán G. Griffin as the Sultan; Don Darryl Rivera as Iago; and, playing Omar, Babkak, and Kassim – a trio of characters originally conceived by the film's creators but not used –
Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Brian Gonzales, and Brandon O'Neill. The show was also directed and choreographed by
Casey Nicholaw. Another production of the musical played at the
Muny Theatre in
St. Louis from July 5–13, 2012. The musical premiered on
Broadway on February 26, 2014 (in previews) and officially opened on March 20, 2014 at the
New Amsterdam Theatre, taking the place of ''
Mary Poppins''. The musical had a pre-Broadway tryout at the
Ed Mirvish Theatre in
Toronto lasting from November 13, 2013 to January 12, 2014.
[Breaking News: Disney's ALADDIN to Play Pre-Broadway Tryout in Toronto Starting November 2013; Broadway Spring 2014](_blank)
Retrieved January 22, 2013 Casey Nicholaw directed and choreographed, with
Chad Beguelin writing the book and additional lyrics,
Bob Crowley as the scene designer, and costume design by
Gregg Barnes.
Aladdin the musical was also opened at Tokyo's Dentsu Shiki Theatre Umi in May 2015. It had its European premiere in December 2015 at the Stage Theatre Neue Flora in Hamburg. It opened in Sydney and London's West End in 2016.
In addition, a stage adaptation of the movie has been created for younger students, known as ''
Disney's Aladdin Jr.'' Licensing and performing rights are currently being held by Music Theatre International. MTI licenses both a "Kids" version (which uses doubling to foster more of an ensemble feeling among young children) and a "Dual Language" version (which takes the Junior version and adds an element of half the characters speaking only in Spanish).
A recording of the show will be release on
Disney+ in 2022.
Novels
In 2015
Disney Press launched a
young adult novel series that retells Disney films but with certain elements changed. The first novel in the series is ''A Whole New World: A Twisted Tale'', written by
Liz Braswell
Elizabeth J. Braswell, often known as Liz Braswell, is an English-born American writer of young adult fiction. She is best known for ''The Nine Lives of Chloe King'', a series that was adapted as a 2011 television show of the same name. She is als ...
, a
dark fantasy
Dark fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporate disturbing and frightening themes of fantasy. It often combines fantasy with elements of horror or has a gloomy dark tone or a sense of horror and dr ...
which retells the film but with Jafar gaining control of the genie before Aladdin does.
Attractions
*
The Magic Carpets of Aladdin, a
Dumbo the Flying Elephant-like ride (
Magic Kingdom at
Walt Disney World Resort; and
Walt Disney Studios Park at
Disneyland Resort Paris).
*
Arabian Coast
*
Le Passage Enchanté d'Aladdin
*
Adventureland Bazaar
The film also inspired a
Disney On Ice
Disney on Ice, originally Walt Disney's World on Ice, is a series of touring ice shows produced by Feld Entertainment's Ice Follies And Holiday on Ice, Inc. under agreement with The Walt Disney Company. Aimed primarily at children, the shows fea ...
presentation,
as well as the show ''
Disney's Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular'' at
Disney California Adventure Park.
Meet and greets
Aladdin, Jasmine, Genie and the Sultan, and occasionally Jafar all appear as
meetable characters in the
Disney Parks and Resorts. They are all usually based in
Adventureland.
Notes
References
{{Disney franchises
Film series introduced in 1992
Walt Disney Studios (division) franchises